Learn about Greek word formation--specifically noun derivatives--from a conversation set in the office of a daily newspaper in Athens
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello everyone and welcome to GreekPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate, Season 1, lesson 6, It’s Daylight Robbery in Greece! I’m Becky. |
| Stefania: And I’m Stefania. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn more about word formation in Greek, and specifically noun derivatives. |
| Stefania: The conversation takes place at the office of the daily Greek newspaper. It’s between Antonia and her supervisor. Because of the difference in their status in the company, the supervisor uses informal language in the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Αντωνία:Δηλαδή οι κλέφτες μπήκαν μέρα μεσημέρι και ο κοσμηματοπώλης δεν ήταν μέσα στο μαγαζί; |
| Κώστας:Όχι. Είχε πάει για κάτι δουλειές. |
| Αντωνία:Και οι κλέφτες ήξεραν ότι θα ερχόταν το συνεργείο για την απολύμανση; |
| Κώστας:Έτσι φαίνεται. Τουλάχιστον από τις μαρτυρίες που έχει η αστυνομία. |
| Αντωνία:Και οι γείτονες νόμισαν ότι ο χαμός που γινόταν στο μαγαζί ήταν από το συνεργείο, ε; |
| Κώστας:Προφανώς! Επίσης, επειδή λίγο πιο κάτω έχει ένα σιδεράδικο, συχνά υπάρχει πολύς θόρυβος στον δρόμο από τα φορτηγά που φορτώνουν και ξεφορτώνουν. |
| Αντωνία:Μάλιστα. |
| Κώστας:Οπότε τι λες; Θα αρχίσεις να το γράφεις τώρα; |
| Αντωνία:Ναι. Αλλά πρώτα θέλω να πάρω ένα τηλέφωνο στην αστυνομία για να ρωτήσω ένα-δυο πράγματα. |
| Κώστας:Δες αν βρεις κάποιον αστυνομικό από τα περιπολικά που πήγαν στο κοσμηματοπωλείο! |
| Αντωνία:Ναι, αυτό σκέφτηκα κι εγώ. Και επίσης καλό θα ήταν αν μπορούσα να μιλήσω και με κανέναν άλλο μαγαζάτορα από την περιοχή. |
| Κώστας:Αυτό θα ήταν πολύ καλό! |
| Antonia: So the thieves broke in in broad daylight and the jeweler wasn't in the shop? |
| Kostas: No. He had gone on some errands. |
| Antonia: And the thieves knew that the pest control crew was coming? |
| Kostas: It seems like it, at least according to the testimonies the police have. |
| Antonia: And the neighbors thought that the racket in the store was because of the pest control crew, right? |
| Kostas: Apparently! Also, since farther down the street there is a blacksmith's store, there is often a lot of noise because of the trucks loading and unloading. |
| Antonia: I see. |
| Kostas: So, what do you think? Will you start writing it now? |
| Antonia: Yes, but first I want to call the police and ask a couple of things. |
| Kostas: See if you can find some policemen from the patrol cars that went to the jewelry store. |
| Antonia: Yes, that's what I thought, too. And also, it would be good if I could speak with some other shop owners from the area. |
| Kostas: That would be great! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Aha! The plot thickens! We have a crime story now! |
| Stefania: Yes we do! |
| Becky: So how bad is crime in Greece? |
| Stefania: Unfortunately with all the financial problems, the crime rate has risen. Still, things aren’t that bad yet – at least in comparison with other European countries. |
| Becky: So Athens is not a dangerous city? |
| Stefania: Well, it does have some dangerous areas, but you can avoid them. |
| Becky: So it’s like most cities. This means the police are doing a good job. |
| Stefania: They try! But they aren’t very well regarded by Greek citizens. |
| Becky: Why is that? |
| Stefania: It has to do with the police having been asked to play different roles in the past. You can read more about that in our lesson notes. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Stefania: κλέφτης [natural native speed] |
| Becky: thief |
| Stefania: κλέφτης [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κλέφτης [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: κοσμηματοπώλης [natural native speed] |
| Becky: jeweler |
| Stefania: κοσμηματοπώλης [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κοσμηματοπώλης [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: μαγαζί [natural native speed] |
| Becky: shop |
| Stefania: μαγαζί [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: μαγαζί [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: τουλάχιστον [natural native speed] |
| Becky: at least |
| Stefania: τουλάχιστον [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: τουλάχιστον [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: φορτηγό [natural native speed] |
| Becky: truck |
| Stefania: φορτηγό [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: φορτηγό [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: μαγαζάτορας [natural native speed] |
| Becky: shop owner |
| Stefania: μαγαζάτορας [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: μαγαζάτορας [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: αστυνομικός [natural native speed] |
| Becky: policeman |
| Stefania: αστυνομικός [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: αστυνομικός [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: χαμός [natural native speed] |
| Becky: loss or racket, commotion |
| Stefania: χαμός [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: χαμός [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: σιδεράδικο [natural native speed] |
| Becky: blacksmith's |
| Stefania: σιδεράδικο [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: σιδεράδικο [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: περιπολικό [natural native speed] |
| Becky: patrol car |
| Stefania: περιπολικό [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: περιπολικό [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Stefania: The first word is “αστυνομικός”. Actually, it means “policeman” and it is used for all police officers, uniformed or plainclothes. |
| Becky: Can we have it again so our listeners can repeat it? |
| Stefania: αστυνομικός (pause). |
| Becky: Great! Now, I see two pairs of words that seem to belong to two families... like the ones we discussed in a previous lesson. |
| Stefania: Actually, there are three! |
| Becky: Really? |
| Stefania: Yes, first we have “μαγαζί” and “μαγαζάτορας”. |
| Becky: Right, “shop” and “shop owner”. |
| Stefania: Yes. Then “κοσμηματοπώλης” and “κοσμηματοπωλείο”… |
| Becky: “Jeweler” and “jewelry store”. |
| Stefania: Right... and “αστυνομία” and “αστυνομικός” which we mentioned before. |
| Becky: That’s “police” and “policeman”. These are all pairs belonging to the same families, aren’t they? |
| Stefania: Yes. Shall we repeat them so our listeners can repeat them too? |
| Becky: Yes! |
| Stefania: “μαγαζί” and “μαγαζάτορας” (pause). |
| Becky: “Shop” and “shop owner”. |
| Stefania: “κοσμηματοπώλης” and “κοσμηματοπωλείο” (pause). |
| Becky: “Jeweler” and “jewelry store”. |
| Stefania: Exactly! And, “αστυνομία” and “αστυνομικός” (pause). |
| Becky: “Police” and “policeman”. So what’s next? |
| Stefania: We have the noun “χαμός”. |
| Becky: This is a very casual word to use when you want to say that there has been a big commotion or a racket. Can we have an example? |
| Stefania: Yes: “Μέσα στον χαμό, πέρασε απαρατήρητη.” |
| Becky: Which means “She went unnoticed in all the commotion”, right? |
| Stefania: Yes. That’s right. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about noun derivatives. |
| Stefania: Exactly. That is, nouns produced by other words. |
| Becky: Other words such as? |
| Stefania: Other nouns, verbs, basically all kinds of words. |
| Becky: Can we have an example? |
| Stefania: Here’s a very common word: “δουλειά”. |
| Becky: This means “job” or “work”. |
| Stefania: Again, “δου-λειά”. Repeat after me: “δουλειά” (pause). |
| Becky: OK. And this is a derivative? |
| Stefania: Yes, from the verb “δουλεύω” which means “to work”. |
| Becky: So how is this created? |
| Stefania: We take the stem of the root word, which is “δουλ-“ and we add the suffix “-ειά” which means the action or the result of the verb. So we get the action of the verb “το work”, which is “δουλειά”, “work”. |
| Becky: I see. How about another example? |
| Stefania: Let’s pick one more from our dialogue: “κλέφτης” |
| Becky: Which means, “thief”. |
| Stefania: The verb this noun derives from is “κλέβω”, meaning “to steal”. |
| Becky: Let’s repeat those for our listeners… |
| Stefania: “κλέφτης” and “κλέβω” – “thief” and “to steal”. |
| Becky: And how does derivation work here? |
| Stefania: In exactly the same way: we take the stem of the verb –that is “κλέβ-“ |
| Becky: And we add a suffix? |
| Stefania: Exactly! The suffix, in this case, is “-της” which signifies a person, someone who does what the verb means. If you notice, the last letter of the stem changes from “β” to “φ”. That happens for reasons of euphony - in other words, it’s more pleasing to the ear! |
| Becky: Right. So it’s basically down to what suffixes we use. Basically, the suffixes can refer to the person who acts what the verb says, the action itself or its result, and the instrument with which the action is done, or the place in which it is done. That means derivative nouns can be people, actions, things or places, right? |
| Stefania: Yes. Let’s stick to those we mentioned for now! You will find some more examples of noun derivatives in our lesson notes. |
| Becky: Is there a way to remember all these suffixes? |
| Stefania: Well, there’s a very handy table with the most common suffixes in the lesson notes. |
| Becky: So listeners, don’t forget to check them! |
| Stefania: Yes. But you know, even if you don’t memorize the table, as you progress in the language, you will start noticing that some suffixes always signify the same thing. For example, the suffix “-της” will most likely be a person who does what the root word says. |
| Becky: So it’s easy after all! |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Stefania: Listeners, do you know the powerful secret behind rapid progress? |
| Becky: Using the entire system. |
| Stefania: Lesson notes are an important part of this system. |
| Becky: They include a transcript and translation of the conversation... |
| Stefania...key lesson vocabulary... |
| Becky: and detailed grammar explanations. |
| Stefania: Lesson notes accompany every audio or video lesson. |
| Becky: Use them on the site or mobile device or print them out. |
| Stefania: Using the lesson notes with audio and video media, will rapidly increase your learning speed. |
| Becky: Go to GreekPod101.com, and download the lesson notes for this lesson right now. |
Outro |
|---|
| Becky: That’s all for this lesson, everyone! Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Stefania: Γεια χαρά! |
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